County Councils Network
Cross-party lobby group for England's county and unitary councils.
The County Councils Network said its members were "relieved" when ministers paused England's county merger decisions on 7 September 2026; weeks later it projected £7bn of extra annual county spending by 2029.
Last refreshed: 7 October 2026 · Appears in 2 active topics
Counties say they face £7bn of extra annual spending by 2029. Who funds it?
Timeline for County Councils Network
Projected £7bn of extra annual spending by 2029
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UK Local Elections 2026Background
The County Councils Network (CCN) is a cross-party organisation that calls itself the voice of England's counties. It represents 39 county and unitary councils, the largest grouping of upper-tier authorities in England, and develops policy and commissions research on their behalf.
Its members run services dominated by legal duties. An Institute for Government calculation reported on 28 May 2026 found that statutory adult social care made up 71.6% of comparable county spending, and that legal duties took about 98% in total.
Local Government Reorganisation puts the Network's own membership in play, because many of its county members were due to be replaced by new unitary councils from 2028. That programme has been under ministerial review since 7 September 2026.
County members welcome the merger pause
On 16 July, the government confirmed that 134 councils across 14 county areas would be folded into 38 unitary authorities; their first elections were set for May 2027, and most were due to take over services on 1 April 2028. Many of the county councils the Network represents were due to be abolished.
On 7 September, ministers withdrew the March decisions for Essex, Hampshire, Norfolk and Suffolk and put all 14 reorganisation decisions taken on 16 July under a rapid review, with May 2027 elections held on existing boundaries. The Network said its members were "relieved" by the pause. Some county councils, Lancashire among them, are still weighing legal claims to protect their position.
Counties project a £7bn spending gap
The Network projects that counties and rural unitaries will need £7bn a year of extra spending on services by 2029. Only a preview of its report has been published, so the baseline and drivers of the figure are not yet public; it is a lobby group's projection, not an official estimate.
County councils carry the largest schools deficits in the official 2025-26 outturn returns published on 17 September, led by Hampshire at £346m. Those deficits are kept off council accounts by a statutory override that runs to the end of 2027-28, and the government has promised a grant covering 90% of deficits held at 31 March 2026.